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New LA-based Gaming Company Uses Hollywood as Bottom Line
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Interesting news in the gaming world this week. The Hollywood Reporter's Paul Hyman notes that video game power house publisher 3D Realms Entertainment has announced the inception of two subsidiary companies called Radar Group (Scottsdale, AZ) and Depth Entertainment (Los Angeles, CA), both focusing on publishing titles that will ultimately become specs for TV and film. CEO Scott Miller uses the concept of the "storyverse" as a logical reason to homogenize the two markets based on the success of other franchises such as Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings.
Miller describes his vision for the companies by explaining that "It will all start at Radar with what I call the 'storyverse' -- or story universe -- which is a big bubble of story, character, and game play ideas...from that central hub, one spoke will go to game development, another will go to movie or TV production, and so forth."
The plan ultimately comes down to a vision for independent titles. Miller notes that "the plan is to find existing independent game developers that haven't had their big break yet and, utilizing the storyverse, work with them to create original IP in which they have some measure of ownership." Creating the two sister companies would provide the financial backup for the ideas to be taken further, resulting in a successful independent franchise.
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"We want each of our media to stand on its own," explains Miller. "In our opinion, when you try to release a game and a movie simultaneously, you compromise the quality of one or the other, and it's usually the game that gets the short end of the stick. Movies usually take 10-15 months to create while it's hard to make a good game so quickly."
3D Realms is currently putting the finishing touches on this year's October release of Max Payne, a feature based on the highly successful Remedy Entertainment FPS. The gaming industry is no stranger to highly publicized and anticipated titles, as was the case with Tomb Raider and Resident Evil. Yet as game and film adaptations continue to find their identity in the entertainment hierarchy, at what point is creativity sacrificed for either party? Should Hollywood be sought after as the definitive goal of game publishing?
Photo courtesy of Grey Dragon Claw via flickr.
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